Solve one issue & create another

Last time I left off, I was showing the new tranny mount. After a little wrestling and some help from Ron we were able to put everything back into place. The end result is quite lovely if I do say so myself.

The drive shaft is in nice alignment and should do the job nicely. All this for a mere 2 1/8"

 And yet that 2 1/8" is significant. It gives me more leeway with the drive shaft, but it makes the front of the wheel well tight. Shortly after I placed the new engine a gent from the Flxible community contacted me and said ( I am am paraphrasing) 'Blake I don't want to rain on you parade but you are going to have to move the rear axle and reposition the wheel wells." My thought was "Oh god, I don't want to have to do that!" So I employed the ostrich technique and stuck my head in the sand pretending that there was no problem and life was good.
I should have listened,George is a man with a wealth of experience, and he has saved my skin a couple of times with a simple email. Thanks George!

So on Ron's last afternoon here, I circumvented a plan for an afternoon ski to employ his services on Fillmore.

The amount the we moved the rear axle was relatively small, so we plan to grab as much as we can without destroying a  vertical rib.

Then it was time to get going. Sparks and smoke. When Michelle came home and I met her with a hug in the kitchen she recoiled back and said with a furrowed brow..." You stink like burnt bus!"

This was the shot of the anterior wall of the passenger wheel well, after the first major cut. We continued on with more clean up. Now the site is ready for sheet metal work. This stuff is pretty significantlooks to be 1/8".....that will be fun to bend, I wonder who has a brake?